HENDERSON, Ky. — Henderson County Schools are taking a very hands-on approach to student engagement with technology.

Thousands of students across the district are now logging in on touch-screen Chromebooks, touching base with teachers through electronic messages, completing homework, checking emails and navigating multiple academic applications.

The district has been distributing devices -- the brand is Chromebook -- in grades 4-12 over the last three years. Officials said their overall 2018-19 goal is ensuring all students in grades 3-12 have a device by the end of the school year.

(A Chromebook is just like a laptop computer, but it has very little storage or installed software. Almost everything is done through the Web and storage is on servers "in the cloud," not on the device itself.)

In the middle- and high-school grades, students can even take the devices home.

"The district chose Chromebooks for many reasons, but the main reason is that we believe it is the most cost-effective/easy-to-use device for the classroom," the district stated on its website. "Chromebooks allow teachers to manage and instruct student learning beyond the classroom walls. Chromebooks provide students with the ability to explore, collaborate, and learn anywhere, anytime."

"As we move forward with education, we know there's a greater need to make students able to have collaboration, critical thinking and communication skills to be able to work with technology," Director of Instructional Technology Kris Gordon said. "A lot of today's jobs deal with problem-solving and working with other people, but jobs change over time. So we have to make sure our students were adaptable to change as well."

Funding for the devices is allocated through the district's budget in incremental amounts, Gordon said.

"We do a little bit at a time," he said. "We weren't able to get everybody devices all at once. Over the last few years, we've budgeted a certain amount."

Gordon stated,"This year we purchased more devices so that our high school students could have devices."

The Chromebooks can easily flip into a mini tablet for students across the district.(Photo: Courtesy of Henderson County Schools)

Elementary students can use the computer in the classroom, free of charge. Gordon said middle and high school students have to pay an annual fee of $25 to be able to take the laptops home.

"There's over 2,000 students at the high school and there's only about 20 to 30 students that don't currently take one home," Gordon said.

Director of Technology Brian Bailey said his department monitors students' internet traffic regularly on campus and off school grounds. Any concerning issues that arise are reported to school principals.

"We can intervene with those students and curtail that behavior, but we're really focused on ensuring that our staff, teachers and students are all being good digital citizens," he said.

HCS uses G-Suite for communication and collaboration efforts among faculty, students, staff. The program also stores files and allows for collaboration on spreadsheets or presentations, according to the district website.

Some individuals might think having a laptop in the classroom is distracting; but Geometry and AP Stats teacher Conner Mattingly sees only positive outcomes.

"If we were to upload a problem or a worksheet to Google Classroom, they can physically annotate on it and type on it because the Chromebooks that we have can flip over and go full tablet mode. You can write on the screen with a No. 2 pencil," Mattingly said.

Henderson County students using their Chromebook to create a design.(Photo: Courtesy of Henderson County Schools)

He noticed an increase in test scores and ACT scores last year. Math classrooms school-wide are using Google Classroom for lessons, which are similar to college math courses that use online programs such as Blackboard for assignments and tests.

"I really saw that the communication among kids grew in the classroom," Mattingly said. "They knew that although they were doing something similar — it wasn't just a worksheet where they asked 'what's the answer to number 6?' Their critical thinking and communication skills were really enhanced once I got the Chromebooks in the room. Kids were more willing to say 'No this is how you do this' and they would go show a peer that's in the classroom."